Brick wall? Bears D even more

September 19, 2006|RICK MORRISSEY Chicago Tribune

CHICAGO -- The nickname -- and by law there had to be one because this is sports -- is "The Brick House." It's almost perfect for the Bears' defense, all fire-hardened stone and mortar and Midwestern flintiness. Brick houses usually don't go anywhere. This one moves. It's a mobile home. The nickname was defensive tackle Tommie Harris' idea, and he came up with it before the first game of the season. He walked into the locker room and explained it to his teammates, brick by brick. "Every house has a foundation," he said Sunday after the Bears flattened the Lions 34-7. "Our foundation is the defense. In order to build a house on a foundation, the foundation has to be firm. "Everybody puts in a brick to build a house. There are going to be rough games when there are storms. Everybody needs their brick. If one brick slips, the whole house falls down." There was no slippage against the dreadful Lions. The important point, though, is not that the Lions are so dreadful but that the Bears' defense is so good. You had the distinct feeling that the Bears could have lined up against anybody at Soldier Field and it wouldn't have mattered. It started up front -- the Front Porch? -- with Tank Johnson sacking Jon Kitna on the Lions' second play and causing a fumble that Brian Urlacher recovered at the Detroit 3-yard line. That led to the predictable touchdown reception by tight end John Gilmore, and before you could say "The Bears have two tight ends?" it was 7-0. "We're dictating the way they're playing," defensive end Adewale Ogunleye said. "The way we got off the ball, the sack early by Tank set the tone. They were scared from that point on." By the time the game was over, the defensive line -- endorsement-wise, the Home Depot Front Porch? -- had six sacks. It looked as fun as it was, the Bears said. The particular cocktail of chaos, adrenaline and manic energy the Bears stir up is good for only a few things in life, fighting being one, fleeing being the other. It wasn't hard to figure which side the Bears were on and which side the Lions were on. Detroit had 10 penalties by halftime. Almost all of it was the doing of the Bears' defensive line. The Lions were so jittery it looked as if somebody had ordered them to ask Dick Butkus how he looked in a nightgown. This is a scary-young defensive line. Harris and Johnson are each in their third season. Tackle Ian Scott is in his fourth year, and end Alex Brown is in his fifth. Tackle Alfonso Boone is in his seventh. So is Ogunleye. And don't forget rookie end Mark Anderson, who has 1 1/2 sacks in two games. As a group, the defensive line is mean and dogged. Individually, they all bring something different to the smorgasbord. Harris can reel off those somethings the way he can his Social Security number. "Ian is the brains," Harris said. "I owe a lot of my accolades to this guy. He's helped me out a lot. "Tank is just throttle, all power. "Boone is the strength of the defense. "Ogunleye is the most consistent pass-rusher there is in the league. "Alex, speed on the corner." Harris stops and turns to Scott, who is sitting next to him in the Bears' locker room. "Ian, how would you describe me?" Harris said. "He's The Man," Scott said. "He's special. The offense has to account for him every play." "Nah, I just pick up the pieces," Harris said. There were pieces of Lions all over the place. Arms. Legs. Roy Williams' tongue. Harris led the way with two sacks. "We're out there having fun," he said. "I hope we can keep doing this year in and year out. The sky's the limit. We're the only ones who can beat ourselves." You hear that about every other day in sports. This time it might even be true.